Network sharing scheme for machine-to-machine (M2M) network

ABSTRACT

A base station includes an antenna to receive a first frequency band associated with first signals carrying machine-to-machine (M2M) data, and a second frequency band associated with second signals carrying user equipment (UE) data; a radio frequency interface to connect to the antenna, and configured to receive the first signals and the second signals; at least one digital front end to generate, based on the first signals, first time-aligned symbols, generate, based on the second signals, second time-aligned symbols, store the first time-aligned symbols at a first portion of a buffer, and store the second time-aligned symbols at a second portion of the buffer; and a processor to convert, based on contents stored at the first portion of the buffer, the first time-aligned symbols into the M2M data, and convert, based on contents stored at the second portion of the buffer, the second time-aligned symbols into the UE data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/702,088, filed on May 1, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,686,793, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

Machine to machine communication (M2M) allows (wireless and/or wired)systems to communicate with other devices without manual humaninteraction. M2M communication may include a wide range of applicationsfor interaction between devices, such as monitoring and control forindustrial automation, logistics, Smart Grid, Smart Cities, health,defense, etc. The data transferred during M2M communications may includedifferent types and sizes that may be associated with differentapplications. For example, M2M communications may include short message,multimedia, etc.

M2M communications may be transmitted over wireless data transmissionnetworks, such as a third generation partnership project (3GPP) network,such as a long-term evolution (LTE) or other fourth generation (4G)network, a universal mobile telecommunications service (UMTS) or otherthird generation (3G) network, or a global system of mobilecommunications (GSM) or other second generation (2G) orsecond-and-a-half generation (2.5G) network. However, M2M communicationsare typically carried via a specialized network because a base stationin 3GPP network may require additional equipment or other modificationto carry the M2M communications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows exemplary devices that may be included in an environment inwhich systems and/or methods described herein may be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of exemplary components that may be included in acomputing device included in the environment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a diagram of exemplary components that may be included in abase station device included in the environment shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4A and 4B shows a diagram of exemplary components that may beincluded in user devices included in the environment shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5A-5C are schematic diagrams that show exemplary components of ashared baseband unit (BBU) device;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of exemplary components of a multiple basebanddevice;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing exemplary components of a converter devicethat may correspond to the converter of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process forhandling M2M bands from machine type communication (MTC) devices andvoice/data bands from use equipment (UE) according to oneimplementation; and

FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process forscheduling access to a frequency band shared by MTC devices and UEs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the sameor similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does notlimit the invention.

Implementations discussed herein relate to a base station, such as anenhanced node B, that includes an antenna to receive frequency bandsthat include a first band associated with first signals carryingmachine-to-machine (M2M) data and a second band associated with secondsignals carrying user equipment (UE) data. The base station may furtherinclude a baseband unit (BBU) that has: a radio frequency (RF) interfaceconfigured to receive the first signals and the second signals, adigital front end (DFE) configured to generate first symbols based onthe first signals and second symbols based on the second signals, asymbol processor configured to convert the first symbols into the M2Mdata and the second symbols into the UE data, and one or more processorsconfigured to forward the M2M data to a first device and the UE data toa second device that differs from the first device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary environment 100 in which systemsand/or methods described herein may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1,environment 100 may include an enhanced Node B (eNB) 110, machine typecommunication (MTC) devices 120, user equipments (UEs) 130, and anevolved packet core (EPC) 140 connecting the eNB to an M2M device 150 ora voice/data device 160. Although not shown, environment 100 may includeadditional devices, such as a home subscriber server(HSS)/authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server, apolicy and charging rules function (PCRF) device, etc., and additionalnetworks, such as a packet data network (PDN), (e.g., the Internet or aproprietary packet data network). Devices/networks of environment 100may be interconnected via wired and/or wireless connections.

The eNBs 110 may include network devices that operate according to oneor more versions of the LTE communication standard and may receiveM2M-related signals from MTC device 120 and other, non-M2M signals fromUEs 130. For example, eNB 110 may receive and process one or more M2Mbands 101 from MTC device 120, and one or more voice/data bands 102 fromUEs 130. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more eNBs 110 may beassociated with a wireless network that is not associated with the LTEnetwork (e.g., a wireless hot spot, a wireless access point, a 3G/2Gbase station, etc.).

Some exemplary frequency bands that may be used for M2M bands 101 andfor voice/data bands 102 in North America are identified in Table 1. InTable 1, the “Received Transmission Bands” refers to bands transmittedby MTC 120 and/or UE 130 to eNB 110, and the “Outputted TransmissionBands” refers to bands transmitted by eNB 110 to MTC 120 and/or UE 130.

TABLE 1 Frequency Bands Received Outputted Frequency Band TransmissionBands Transmission Bands Bandwidth Identifier (Mhz) (Mhz) (Mhz) A″824-825 869-870 1 A 825-835 870-880 10 A′   845-846.5   890-891.5 1.5 B835-845 880-890 10 B′ 846.5-849   890.5-894   2.5In one example, M2M bands 101 may include the A′ and A″ bands, whilevoice/data bands 102 may include the A band. In this example, two M2Mbands 101 are separated by and an intermediate voice/data band 102. Itshould be appreciated, however, that M2M bands 101 and voice/data bands102 may include any frequencies and/or range of frequencies.

The eNB 110 may further process M2M signal bands 101 to extract M2Mcontent 103, and eNB 110 may forward, via EPC 140, the M2M content 103to one or more M2M device 150. M2M device 150 may perform variousfunctions based on M2M content 103. For example, if M2M content 103relates to the operational status of an MTC device 120, M2M device 150may schedule maintenance when M2M content 103 indicates an error in theoperation of the MTC device 120. The eNB 110 may further processvoice/data signal bands 102 to extract voice/data content 104, and eNB110 may forward, via EPC 140, voice/data content 104 to one or morevoice/data devices 160. Voice/data devices 160 may perform variousfunctions based on voice/data content 104. For example, if a UE 130forwards voice/data content 104 related to a voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) communication, a voice/data device 160 may establish andmanage a session for exchanging VoIP data with the UE 130.

MTC device 120 may include a device that communicates with anotherdevice via M2M communications, and the M2M communications do not includemanual human input. MTC device 120 may perform M2M or machine typecommunications. MTC device 120 may communicate via wireless and/or wirednetworks. MTC device 120 may include a wide range of applications formonitoring and control purposes in fields such as industrial automation,logistics, Smart Grid, Smart Cities, health, defense, etc. MTC device120 operates according to one or more versions of the LTE communicationstandard. Alternatively or additionally, MTC device 120 may operateaccording to a wireless standard for communications via a secondarywireless network. For example, an MTC device 120 in a moving vehicle,such as a telematics unit or other vehicular communication system, mayuse the IEEE 802.11p protocol to add wireless access in vehicularenvironments (WAVE).

UE 130 may include a computation and communication device, such as awireless mobile communication device that is capable of communicatingwith eNB 140 and/or a network (e.g., IMS core 110). For example, UE 130may include a cellular telephone; a personal communications system (PCS)terminal (e.g., that may combine a cellular telephone with dataprocessing and data communications capabilities); a personal digitalassistant (PDA) (e.g., that can include a radiotelephone, a pager,Internet/intranet access, etc.); a smart phone; a laptop computer; atablet computer; a camera; a personal gaming system, or another type ofmobile computation and communication device. UE 130 may exchange trafficwith eNB 110. UE 130 may also, or alternatively, include one or morecomponents such as global positioning system (GPS) components (notshown) that enable a location, associated with UE 130, to be identified.

EPC 140 may include, for example, a mobility management entity (MME), aserving gateway (SGW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW), and agateway (GW). For example, the MME may perform idle mode tracking andpaging procedures (e.g., including retransmissions) for MTC devices 120,and the SGW may exchange data packets with MTC device 120. The PGW mayinclude one or more data transfer devices (or network devices), such asa gateway, a router, a switch, a firewall, a network interfacecontroller (NIC), a hub, a bridge, a proxy server, an optical add/dropmultiplexer OADM, or some other type of device that exchanges databetween eNB 110 and M2M devices 150 and/or voice/data devices 160.

The quantity of devices and/or networks, illustrated in FIG. 1, isprovided for explanatory purposes only. In practice, there may beadditional devices and/or networks, fewer devices and/or networks,different devices and/or networks, or differently arranged devicesand/or networks than those illustrated in FIG. 1. Also, in someimplementations, one or more of the devices of environment 100 mayperform one or more functions described as being performed by anotherone or more of the devices of environment 100.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating exemplary components of a device 200.Device 200 may correspond, for example, to a component of eNB 110, MTCdevice 120, UE 130, a component of EPC 140, M2M device 150, orvoice/data device 160. Alternatively or additionally, eNB 110, MTCdevice 120, UE 130, a component of EPC 140, M2M device 150, orvoice/data device 160 may include one or more devices 200 and/or one ormore components of device 200.

Device 200 may include a bus 210, a processor 220, a memory 230, aninput component 240, an output component 250, and a communicationinterface 260. Although FIG. 2 shows exemplary components of device 200,in other implementations, device 200 may contain fewer components,additional components, different components, or differently arrangedcomponents than those depicted in FIG. 2. For example, device 200 mayinclude one or more switch fabrics instead of, or in addition to, bus210. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components of device200 may perform one or more tasks described as being performed by one ormore other components of device 200.

Bus 210 may include a path that permits communication among thecomponents of device 200. Processor 220 may include a processor, amicroprocessor, or processing logic that may interpret and executeinstructions. Memory 230 may include any type of dynamic storage devicethat may store information and instructions, for execution by processor220, and/or any type of non-volatile storage device that may storeinformation for use by processor 220. Input component 240 may include amechanism that permits a user to input information to device 200, suchas a keyboard, a keypad, a button, a switch, etc. Output component 250may include a mechanism that outputs information to the user, such as adisplay, a speaker, one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs), etc.

Communication interface 260 may include any transceiver-like mechanismthat enables device 200 to communicate with other devices and/or systemsvia wireless communications, wired communications, or a combination ofwireless and wired communications. For example, communication interface260 may include mechanisms for communicating with another device orsystem via a network. Communication interface 260 may include an antennaassembly for transmission and/or reception of RF signals. For example,Communication interface 260 may include one or more antennas to transmitand/or receive RF signals over the air. Communication interface 260 may,for example, receive RF signals and transmit them over the air to eNB110, and receive RF signals over the air from eNB 110. In oneimplementation, for example, communication interface 260 may communicatewith a network and/or devices connected to a network. Alternatively oradditionally, communication interface 260 may be a logical componentthat includes input and output ports, input and output systems, and/orother input and output components that facilitate the transmission ofdata to other devices.

Device 200 may perform certain operations in response to processing unit220 executing software instructions contained in a computer-readablemedium, such as memory 230. A computer-readable medium may be defined asa non-transitory memory device. A memory device may include space withina single physical memory device or spread across multiple physicalmemory devices. The software instructions may be read into memory 230from another computer-readable medium or from another device. Thesoftware instructions contained in memory 230 may cause processor 220 toperform processes described herein. Alternatively, hardwired circuitrymay be used in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement processes described herein. Thus, implementations describedherein are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitryand software.

Device 200 may include fewer components, additional components,different components, and/or differently arranged components than thoseillustrated in FIG. 2. As an example, in some implementations, a displaymay not be included in device 200. In these situations, device 200 maybe a “headless” device that does not include input component 240.Additionally, or alternatively, one or more operations described asbeing performed by a particular component of device 200 may be performedby one or more other components, in addition to or instead of theparticular component of device 200.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of a base station device 300that may correspond to eNB 110 according to an implementation describedherein. As shown in FIG. 3, base station device 300 may include anantenna 310, a first M2M path 301, a second M2M path 302, and avoice/data path 303. As further shown in FIG. 3, each of first M2M path301, second M2M path 302, and voice/data path 303 may include a bandfilter 320, a modulator/demodulator (MOD/DEMOD) 330, an analog todigital/digital to analog converter (AD/DA) 340, and a baseband unit(BBU) 350.

Antenna 310 may include a directional and/or omnidirectional structurefor receiving wireless signals included in M2M bands 101 and/orvoice/data bands 102. Antenna 310 may be coupled to a transceiver (notshown) that includes transceiver circuitry for transmitting and/orreceiving traffic with MTC devices 120 and UEs 130 via antennas 310. Asshown in FIG. 3, antenna 310 may receive and forward composite signalbands 304 that include both M2M bands 101 and voice/data bands 102.

Band filter 320 may pass frequencies within a particular band or groupof bands from composite signal bands 304 and may reject (or attenuate)frequencies in composite signal bands 304 that are outside theparticular band or group of bands. For example, if M2M bands 101 includethe A″ and A′ signal bands and voice/data bands 102 includes the Asignal band, a first band filter 320 associated with first M2M path 301may extract the A′ band, a second band filter 320 associated with secondM2M path 302 may extract the A″ band, and a third band filter 320associated with voice/data path 303 may extract the A band.

MOD/DEMOD 330 (also called a modem) modulates signals to encode digitalinformation and demodulates signals to decode the transmittedinformation. For example, MOD/DEMOD 330 may extract a data signalcarried in a carrier signal within a frequency range or group offrequency ranges. For example, if M2M bands 101 include the A′ and A″signal bands and voice/data bands 102 includes the A signal band, afirst MOD/DEMOD 330 associated with first M2M path 301 may extract datasignals coupled to a carrier signal in the A′ band, and a secondMOD/DEMOD 330 associated with second M2M path 302 may extract datasignals coupled to a carrier signal in the A″ band. Similarly, a thirdMOD/DEMOD 330 associated with voice/data path 303 may extract datasignals associated with a carrier signal in the A band. The data signalextracted by MOD/DEMOD 330 may represent encoded signals. For example,For example, AD/DA 340 may convert the data signals into one or moresymbols. For example, a phase-shift keying (PSK), an orthogonalfrequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), or other digital modulationscheme may be used to convey data by modifying an attribute of thecarrier signal, and MOD/DEMOD 330 may extract the encoded data from themodified carrier signal.

AD/DA 340 may convert the data signals extracted by MOD/DEMOD 330 to adigital form to extract data carried by the signals. For example, AD/DA340 may convert the data signals into one or more symbols. In oneimplementation, AD/DA 340 associated with first M2M path 301 or secondM2M path 302 may use a first conversion scheme for carrying M2M data,and AD/DA 340 associated with voice/data path 303 may use a second,different conversion scheme. In another implementation, the AD/DA 340associated with first M2M path 301 may use a conversion scheme thatdiffers from a conversion scheme used by the AD/DA 340 associated withsecond M2M path 302. For example, a certain type of MTC device 120 maysend data via a first M2M band 101 using a particular encoding scheme,and another type of MTC device 120 may send data via a second M2M band101 using a different encoding scheme.

BBU 350 may include one or more processors, microprocessors, etc., thatare responsible for digital baseband signal processing. BBU 350 mayfurther handle, for example, termination of a S1 line used forconnecting to a core network, such as EPC 140, termination of an X2 lineused for connecting with another eNB 110, call processing, andmonitoring of control processing.

Base station device 300 may include fewer components, additionalcomponents, different components, and/or differently arranged componentsthan those illustrated in FIG. 3. Additionally, or alternatively, one ormore operations described as being performed by a particular componentof base station device 300 may be performed by one or more othercomponents, in addition to or instead of the particular component ofbase station device 300.

In the implementation shown in FIG. 3, base station device 300 maycorrespond to an eNB 110 that includes separate BBUs 350 to handleseparate bands included in M2M signal bands 101 and voice/data bands102. For example, base station device 300 may include a BBU 350 invoice/data path 303 that handles A band signals, and BBUs 350 in firstM2M path 301 and second M2M path 301 that handle, respectively, A′ andA″ bands.

In other implementation shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a sharing base stationdevice 400 (shown as sharing base station device 400-A in FIG. 4A and assharing base station device 400-B in FIG. 4B) may include a shared BBU410 that handles two or more signal bands and components of base stationdevice 300 (e.g., antenna 310, band filter 320, MOD/DEMOD 330, AD/DA340, and/or BBU 350). In one example shown in FIG. 4A, sharing basestation device 400-A has a composite M2M path 401 that includes a sharedBBU 410 for handling multiple M2M signal bands 101 and a voice/data path302 that includes BBU 350 for handing a particular signal band. Forinstance, shared BBU 310 may handle transmission from MTC devices 120 inthe A′ and A″ bands, whereas BBU 350 may handle transmission from UEs130 in the A band. The band filter 320 included composite M2M path 401may extract the A′ and A″ bands from composite signals bands 303.

In another example shown in FIG. 4B, sharing base station device 400-Bmay include a composite path 402 that has a shared BBU 410 for handlinga composite signal band 303 that includes both M2M signal bands 101 fromMTC devices 120 and voice/data signal band 102 from UEs 130. Forinstance, shared BBU 310 may handle transmission from MTC devices 120 inthe A′ and A″ bands and transmission from UEs 130 in the A band.

FIGS. 5A-5C are schematic diagrams that show exemplary components of ashared BBU device 500 (shown respectively in FIGS. 5A-5C as shared BBUdevices 500-A through 500-C) that may correspond to shared BBU 410. Asdescribed in greater detail below, shared BBU device 500 may include oneor more components for handling multiple signal bands included in M2Msignals bands 101 and/or voice/data signal bands 102, such as signalsbands A′ and A″ or signal bands A, A′, and A″.

FIG. 5A illustrates a shared BBU device 500-A that may be used to handletime-aligned symbols carried on different signals bands included in M2Msignals bands 101 and/or voice/data signal bands 102. As shown in FIG.5A, shared BBU device 500-A may include a radio frequency (RF) interface510, a digital front end (DFE) 520, a symbol buffer 530, symbolprocessing 540, channel processing 550, an encoder/decoder 560, and aprocessor interface 570.

RF interface 510 may provide an interface that enables DFE 520 to obtainsymbol data from AD/DA 340. Shared BBU device 500-A may include separateRF interface 510 that receive symbol data associated with respective M2Mbands 101 and voice/data bands 102. For example, shared BBU device 500-Amay include a first RF interface 510 for receiving symbol dataassociated with the A band, a second RF interface 510 for receivingsymbol data associated with the A′ band, and a third RF interface 510for receiving symbol data associated with the A″ band. Additionally oralternatively, shared BBU device 500-A may include first RF interface510 that receives symbols carried on two or more M2M bands 101 andvoice/data bands 102.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 5A, the symbols may be time-alignedby AD/DA 340 so that symbols that are associated with a symbol band arereceived at particular time slots. DFE 520 may identify a time slotallocated to a frequency band, and DFE 520 may associate a symbolreceived during the time slot with the frequency band. DFE 520 mayinclude 1024, 1228, 2048 or other sized fast Fourier transforms (FFT) torecover the symbol data received by RF interface 510. DFE 520 mayfurther group together, in symbol buffer 530, symbols associated with asame frequency band or group of frequency bands. Furthermore, DFE 520may store null values for subcarriers associated with any time slotsthat are not allocated to particular frequencies bands. For example DFE520 may null certain subcarriers to separate subcarriers associated withthe A, A′, and A″ bands.

Continuing with FIG. 5A, symbol processing 540 may access the groupedsymbols stored in symbol buffer 530 and may convert the grouped symbolsinto data, such as packets, and channel processing 550 may perform mediaaccess control (MAC) and physical (PHY) channel processing on theconverted data, and encoder/decoder 560 may prepare the data fortransport. Processor interface 570 may provide a connection to forwarddata encoded by encoder/decoder 560 to EPC 140.

In another implementation shown in FIG. 5B, sharing BBU 500-B may beconfigured to handle symbols carried on different signals bands includedin M2M signals bands 101 and/or voice/data signal bands 102 that are nottime-aligned. For example, sharing BBU 500-B may include one or morefrequency shifters 580 that forward symbols associated with certainfrequency bands to one or more first digital front ends 520 whileanother, second digital front end 520 may receive symbols associatedwith another frequency band that are not modified by frequency shifter580. Frequency shifters 580 may direct symbols associated withtransmission from MTC devices 120 to first digital front ends 520without shifting symbols associated with transmissions from UEs 130.

For instance, if MTC devices 120 transmit on the A′ and A″ bands, afirst frequency shifter 580 may shift symbols associated with the A′band in a first direction (e.g., shifting the symbols up), and a secondfrequency shifter 580 may shift signals associated with the A″ band in asecond direction (e.g., shifting the symbols down). If UEs 130 transmiton the A band, symbols associated with the A band may be unaffected byfirst and second frequency shifters 580. The shifted symbols may bereceived and processed by first digital front end 520 and groupedtogether in symbol buffer 530. Furthermore, unshifted symbols may bereceived and processed by second digital front end 520 and groupedtogether in symbol buffer 530. In this example, first digital front ends520 may include 256 FFTs to decode M2M related signals, and seconddigital front end 520 may include a relatively larger FFT (such as a1024 FFT) to handle the relatively larger A band associated with thevoice/data signals from UEs 130. Symbol processing 540, channelprocessing 550, encoder/decoder 560, and processor interface may operateas described above with respect to FIG. 5A, to process the groupedsymbols to forward associated data to M2M devices 150 and voice/datadevices 160.

In the implementations shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, shared BBUs 500 mayinclude a quantity of RF interfaces 510 that corresponds to the numberof bands included in M2M bands 101 and voice/data bands 102. Forexample, if M2M bands 101 include the A′ and A″ bands, and voice/databand 102 includes the A band, shared BBU 500 may include three RFinterfaces 510.

In another implementation shown in FIG. 5C, shared BBU 500-C may includea quantity of RF interface(s) 510 that is less than the quantity ofsignal bands included in M2M bands 101. Shared BBU 500-C may include adigital multiplexor/demultiplexor (MUX/DEMUX) 590 to generate andforward multiple copies of received signals. In the example shown inFIG. 5C, shared BBU 500-C may be configured to handle non-time-alignedsignals using one or more frequency shifters 590 that operate, asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 5B, direct M2M-related symbols tofirst digital front end(s) 520, and voice/data related symbols to seconddigital front ends 520. In this example, MUX/DEMUX 590 may directcertain symbols to frequency shifters 580 and other transmitted symbolsto second digital front end 520. If the symbols are time-aligned, sharedBBU 500-C may omit frequency shifters 580 and MUX/DEMUX 590 may,instead, forward the time-aligned symbols to one or more front end 520to be sorted based on the time slots associated with the time-alignedsymbols.

Although FIGS. 5A-5C show exemplary components of shared BBU device 500,in other implementations, shared BBU device 500 may include fewercomponents, additional components, different components, or differentlyarranged components than those depicted in FIGS. 5A-5D. In still otherimplementations, one or more components of shared BBU device 500 mayperform one or more tasks described as being performed by one or moreother components of shared BBU device 500.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of exemplary components of a multiple basebanddevice 600 that may correspond to eNB 110 according to an implementationdescribed herein. As shown in FIG. 6, multiple baseband device 600 mayinclude antenna 310, band filter 320, MOD/DEMOD 330, and AD/DA 340 thatoperate as described above with respect to FIG. 3 to process and handlecomposite signal bands 303. As also shown in FIG. 6, multiple basebanddevice 600 may further include a converter 610 to direct signal bands todifferent BBUs 350. For example, multiple baseband device 600 mayinclude a first BBU 350 to handle M2M signals bands 101, and a secondBBU 350 to handle voice/data signals bands 102. Converter 610 may directcertain bands to first BBU 350, and other bands to second BBU 350.

Although FIG. 6 shows exemplary components of separate basebands basestation device 600, in other implementations, basebands device 600 mayinclude fewer components, additional components, different components,or differently arranged components than those depicted in FIG. 6. Instill other implementations, one or more components of multiple basebanddevice 600 may perform one or more tasks described as being performed byone or more other components of separate basebands base station device600.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing exemplary components of a converter device700 that may correspond to converter 610 included in multiple basebanddevice 600 according to an implementation described herein. As shown inFIG. 7, converter device 700 may include one or more frequency shifters710 and multiple downsamplers 720. Converter device may be a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) that includes a first portion(corresponding to frequency shifters 710) to perform one or more digitalfrequency shifts and a second portion (corresponding to downsampler 720)to perform a low pass filtering and to sample the remaining symbols.

A frequency shifter 710 may forward symbols associated with certainfrequency bands toward an downsampler 720 while downsampler 720 mayreceive symbols associated with another frequency band that are notmodified by frequency shifter 710. In the example shown in FIG. 1, firstfrequency shifter 710 may direct symbols associated with transmissionfrom MTC devices 120 in the A′ band to first downsampler 720, and secondfrequency shifter 710 may direct symbols associated with transmissionfrom MTC devices 120 in the A″ band to second downsampler 720. Forexample, first downsampler 720 may be designed to filter out shiftedsymbols handled by second downsampler 720 and any unshifted symbols, andsecond downsampler 720 may be designed to filter out shifted symbolshandled by first downsampler 720 and any unshifted symbols.

Third downsampler 720 may receive symbols that are not affected byfrequency shifters 710. For example, if UEs 130 transmit on the A band,symbols associated with the A band may be unaffected by first and secondfrequency shifters 710 (which shift symbols associated with data on theA′ and A″ bands). The unshifted symbols may be received and processed bythird downsampler 720. The third downsampler 720 would filter outshifted symbols handled by first and second downsamplers 720.

Although FIG. 7 shows exemplary components of converter device 700, inother implementations, converter device 600 may include fewercomponents, additional components, different components, or differentlyarranged components than those depicted in FIG. 7. In still otherimplementations, one or more components of converter device 700 mayperform one or more tasks described as being performed by one or moreother components of converter device 700.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process 800 forhandling M2M data from MTC device 120. In one implementation, process800 may be performed by eNB 110. In other implementations, process 800may be performed by one or more other devices of environment 100, suchas a component of EPC 140.

As shown in FIG. 8, process 800 may include allocating signal bands toUEs 130 and MTC devices 120 (block 810). For example, one of the A, A′,and A″ bands may be allocated to UEs 130, and the remaining two bandsmay be used by MTC devices 120. As previously described, MTC devices 120may use M2M bands 101 that include the A′ and A″ bands, and UEs 130 mayuse voice/data bands 102 that include the A band. It should beappreciated, however, that this example is given merely for purposes ofillustration, and other bands allocations may be used within discussedimplementations. For example, M2M band 101 may include a narrow band(e.g., only includes the A′ band) or a wide band that includes the A andA″ bands. In another example, eNB 110 may be configured to handle onlyM2M communications, so that the A, A′, and A″ bands are allocated to theMTC devices 120.

In yet another example, a particular type (or brand) of MTC devices 120may transmit on a first portion of M2M band 101, and another type (orbrand) of MTC devices 120 may transmit on a second, different portion ofM2M band 101. For example, a first type of MTC device 120 may transmiton a first portion of the A′ band and a second type of MTC device 120may transmit on a second portion of the A′ band. For instance, a firstportion of M2M band 101 may carry commercial data, such as utility meterreadings, a second portion of M2M band 101 may carry a vehicle data,such as telematic readings, and a third portion of M2M band 101 maycarry device status data, such as an indication of whether devices arebeing used and are operational.

As shown in FIG. 8, process 800 may further include receiving a message(block 820) and identifying a frequency band or group of frequency bandsassociated with the message (block 830). For example, the message may bereceived at antenna 310, and the message may be forwarded to a BBU 350by a band filter 320 (see FIGS. 3 and 4A). Furthermore, BBU 350 mayinclude a digital front end 520 (FIG. 5A) to sort time-aligned symbolsassociated with different frequency bands or a frequency shifter 580(FIG. 5B) to direct symbols associated with different frequency bands todifferent digital front ends 520.

Continuing with process 800 in FIG. 8, eNB 110 may determine whether thefrequency band associated with the message is allocated to M2M band 101(block 840). If the message is received via a frequency included in M2Mband 101 (block 840—yes), the message data is forwarded to M2M device(block 850). Otherwise, if the message is received via a frequency notincluded in M2M band 101 (block 840—no), the message data may beforwarded to voice/data device 160 (block 860). For example, asdescribed with respect to FIG. 3, eNB 110 may include symbol processing540, channel processing 550, encoder/decoder 560, and processorinterface that operate as described above with respect to FIGS. 5A and5B, to process data from a received message and to forward the data toM2M devices 150 and voice/data devices 160.

In the above discussions, different frequency bands (or groups offrequency bands) are allocated to M2M bands 101 and to voice/data bands.For example, one of the A, A′, and A″ bands may be allocated to UEs 130,and the remaining two bands may be used by MTC devices 120. In oneimplementation, M2M bands 101 and/or voice/data bands 102 may includeother bands, such as the B and/or B′ bands. In another implementation,MTC devices 120 and UEs 130 may share one or more bands. For example,both MTC devices 120 and UEs 130 may use both the A, A′, and/or A″bands. In this other implementation, access to a shared band or group ofbands may be scheduled to avoid band conflicts.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process 900 forscheduling access to a frequency band shared by MTC devices 120 and UEs130. In this way, MTC devices 120 and UEs 130 may both use one or morecommon frequency bands (e.g., both use the A band). The bands may beshared, for example, based on network conditions, such ascongestion/bandwidth on a band that exceeds a threshold. In anotherinstance, MTC devices 120 and UEs 130 may share a frequency bands ifenvironmental conditions cause interference/signal loss in one or moreother frequency bands. In yet another instance, MTC devices 120 and UEs130 may share a frequency band if MTC devices 120 and/or UEs 130 aredesigned to function on the same band. In this last instance, a devicemay function as an MTC device 120 in certain instances (e.g., whenproviding status information) and as a UE 130 in other instances (e.g.,when providing communications), and the device may use the samefrequency band in both roles (e.g., function as UE 130 during certaintime periods and as MTC device 120 during other time periods). In oneimplementation, process 900 may be performed by eNB 110. In otherimplementations, process 900 may be performed by one or more otherdevices of environment 100, such as a component of EPC 140 or anexternal controller (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 9, process 900 may include identifying narrow bands andwide bands supported by eNB 110 (block 910). For example, certain eNBs110 may receive and process signals transmitted via the A, A′, and theA″ bands, while other eNBs 110 may not support all three bands. In thefollowing discussion, the A band is considered a wide band, while the A′and A″ bands are considered, individually, to be narrow bands.

The eNB 110 may determine whether UEs 130 use both wide and narrow bands(block 920) and whether MTC devices 120 use both wide and narrow bands(block 930). For example, if UEs 130 use only narrow bands such as theA′ and/or A″ bands, (block 920—No) and MTC devices 120 use only narrowbands such as the A′ and/or A″ bands, (block 930—No), eNB 110 schedulesaccess by the MTC devices 120 and the UEs 130 to the shared narrow band(block 940). For example, access to the shared narrow band may beallocated in a ping-pong fashion so that the MTC devices 120 and the UEs130 may send/receive on the narrow band during alternating time periods.In another example, the allocation of the narrow band may vary based onthe relative amounts of data exchange by MTC devices 120 and UEs 130.For example, if UEs 130 exchange ten times the amount of data as MTCdevices 120, eNB 110 may allocate a signal time period to MTC devices120 and 10 subsequent time periods to UEs 130.

If UEs 130 use narrow and wide bands such as the A band in combinationwith the A′ and/or A″ bands, (block 920—Yes), and MTC devices 120 usealso narrow and wide bands (block 930—Yes), eNB 110 schedules access bythe MTC devices 120 and the UEs 130 to the shared narrow band and widebands (block 950). For example, MTC devices 120 and the UEs 130 mayaccess the wide and narrow bands during alternating time periods. Inanother example, MTC devices 120 and the UEs 130 may alternate accessthe wide and narrow bands, such as causing MTC devices 120 to use the Aband during a time period and directing UEs 130 to use the A′ and/or A″bands during that time period, while causing MTC devices 120 to use theA′ and/or A″ bands during a subsequent time period and directing UEs 130to use the A band during this subsequent time period.

Various preferred embodiments have been described herein with referenceto the accompanying drawings. It will, however, be evident that variousmodifications and changes may be made thereto, and additionalembodiments may be implemented, without departing from the broader scopeof the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. Thespecification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in anillustrative rather than restrictive sense.

It will be apparent that different aspects of the description providedabove may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware,and hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. Theactual software code or specialized control hardware used to implementthese aspects is not limiting of the implementations. Thus, theoperation and behavior of these aspects were described without referenceto the specific software code—it being understood that software andcontrol hardware can be designed to implement these aspects based on thedescription herein.

For example, while a series of blocks has been described with respect toFIGS. 8 and 9, the order of the blocks in processes 800 and 900 may bemodified in other implementations. Furthermore, non-dependent blocks maybe performed in parallel. Furthermore, processes 800 and 900 may includeadditional and/or fewer blocks than shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are notintended to limit the disclosure of the possible implementations. Infact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specificallyrecited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Althougheach dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one otherclaim, the disclosure of the implementations includes each dependentclaim in combination with every other claim in the claim set.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described assuch. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include oneor more items. Where only one item is intended, the term “one” orsimilar language is used. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended tomean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: an antenna configured toreceive: a first frequency band associated with first signals carryingmachine-to-machine (M2M) data, and a second frequency band associatedwith second signals carrying user equipment (UE) data; a radio frequency(RF) interface to connect to the antenna, and configured to receive thefirst signals and the second signals; at least one digital front end(DFE) configured to: generate, based on the first signals, firsttime-aligned symbols, generate, based on the second signals, secondtime-aligned symbols, sort the first time-aligned symbols and the secondtime-aligned symbols based on respective time slots associated withfirst time-aligned symbols and the second time-aligned symbols, grouptogether, based on the respective time slots, the first time-alignedsymbols in a buffer, group together, based on the respective time slots,the second time-aligned symbols in the buffer, a processor configuredto: convert, based on contents stored in the buffer, the firsttime-aligned symbols into the M2M data, convert, based on contentsstored in the buffer, the second time-aligned symbols into the UE data,forward the M2M data to a first device, and forward the UE data to asecond device that differs from the first device.
 2. The system of claim1, further comprising: a frequency shifter configured to shiftfrequencies associated with the first signals without modifyingfrequencies associated with the second signals, and wherein the at leastone DFE includes: a first DFE configured to generate the firsttime-aligned symbols based on the frequency-shifted first signals, and asecond DFE configured to generate the second time-aligned symbols basedon the second signals.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first DFEincludes a first fast Fourier transform (FFT) of a first size, andwherein the second DFE includes a second FFT of a second size that islarger than the first size.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the RFinterface is further configured to: receive a composite signal thatincludes the first signals and the second signals, and wherein thesystem further includes: a digital multiplexor configured to: receivethe composite signal from the RF interface, generate a first copy of thecomposite signal, forward the first copy of the composite signal to thefirst DFE, generate a second copy of the composite signal, and forwardthe second copy of the composite signal to the second DFE.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein the first frequency band includes a first range offrequencies and a second range of frequencies that are separated by athird range of frequencies included in the second frequency band.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein a group of frequencies is included in thefirst frequency band and the second frequency band, and wherein theprocessor is further configured to schedule use of the group offrequencies, wherein scheduling the use of the group of frequenciescauses the group of frequencies to carry the M2M data during a firsttime period and carry the UE data during a second time period.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the at least one DFE is further configuredto: identify a first timeslot allocated to the first frequency band,identify a second timeslot allocated to the second frequency band,associate, when the first time-aligned symbols are received during thefirst timeslot, the first time-aligned symbols with the first frequencyband, and associate, when the second time-aligned symbols are receivedduring the second timeslot, the second time-aligned symbols with thesecond frequency band.
 8. A method comprising: receiving, by one or moreprocessors associated with a base station, a first frequency bandassociated with first signals carrying machine-to-machine (M2M) data,and a second frequency band associated with second signals carrying userequipment (UE) data; generating, by the one or more processors, firsttime-aligned symbols based on the first signals; generating, by the oneor more processors, second time-aligned symbols based on the secondsignals; sorting the first time-aligned symbols and the secondtime-aligned symbols based on respective time slots associated withfirst time-aligned symbols and the second time-aligned symbols; groupingtogether, by the one or more processors and based on the respective timeslots, the first time-aligned symbols in a buffer; grouping together, bythe one or more processors and based on the respective time slots, thesecond time-aligned symbols in the buffer; converting, by the one ormore processors, the first time-aligned symbols into the M2M data;converting, by the one or more processors, the second time-alignedsymbols into the UE data; forwarding, by the one or more processors, theM2M data to a first device; and forwarding, by the one or moreprocessors, the UE data to a second device that differs from the firstdevice.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: shiftingfrequencies associated with the first signals without modifyingfrequencies associated with the second signals, and wherein generatingthe first time-aligned symbols includes generating the firsttime-aligned symbols based on the frequency-shifted first signals. 10.The method of claim 8, wherein converting the first time-aligned symbolsinto the M2M data comprises performing a first fast Fourier transform(FFT) of a first size on the first signals, and wherein converting thesecond time-aligned symbols into the UE data comprises performing asecond FFT of a second size on the second signals, the second sizeexceeding the first size.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the firstfrequency band includes a first range of frequencies and a second rangeof frequencies that are separated by a third range of frequenciesincluded in the second frequency band.
 12. The method of claim 8,wherein a group of frequencies is included in the first frequency bandand the second frequency band, and wherein the one or more processorsare further configured to schedule use of the group of frequencies,wherein scheduling the use of the group of frequencies causes the groupof frequencies to carry the M2M data during a first time period andcarry the UE data during a second time period.
 13. The method of claim8, further comprising: identifying a first timeslot allocated to thefirst frequency band, identifying a second timeslot allocated to thesecond frequency band, associating, when the first time-aligned symbolsare received during the first timeslot, the first time-aligned symbolswith the first frequency band, and associating, when the secondtime-aligned symbols are received during the second timeslot, the secondtime-aligned symbol with the second frequency band.
 14. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions executable by acomputational device associated with a base station, wherein theinstructions comprise instructions to cause a processor associated withthe computational device to: receive a first frequency band associatedwith first signals carrying machine-to-machine (M2M) data; receive asecond frequency band associated with second signals carrying userequipment (UE) data; generate, based on the first signals, firsttime-aligned symbols; generate, based on the second signals, secondtime-aligned symbols; sort the first time-aligned symbols and the secondtime-aligned symbols based on respective time slots associated withfirst time-aligned symbols and the second time-aligned symbols, grouptogether, based on the respective time slots, the first time-alignedsymbols in a buffer; group together, based on the respective time slots,the second time-aligned symbols in the buffer; convert the firsttime-aligned symbols into the M2M data; and convert the secondtime-aligned symbols into the UE data.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions furthercause the processor to: shift one or more frequencies associated withthe first signals without modifying frequencies associated with thesecond signals; and generate the first time-aligned symbols based on thefrequency-shifted first signals.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein converting the firsttime-aligned symbols into the M2M data comprises performing a first fastFourier transform (FFT) on the first signals, and wherein converting thesecond time-aligned symbols into the UE data comprises performing asecond FFT on the second signals.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the first frequency bandincludes a first range of frequencies and a second range of frequenciesthat are separated by a third range of frequencies included in thesecond frequency band.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 14, wherein a group of frequencies is included in the firstfrequency band and the second frequency band, and wherein theinstructions further cause the processor to schedule use of the group offrequencies, wherein scheduling the use of the group of frequenciescauses the group of frequencies to carry the M2M data during a firsttime period and carry the UE data during a second time period.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein theinstructions further cause the processor to: identify a first timeslotallocated to the first frequency band, identify a second timeslotallocated to the second frequency band, associate, when the firsttime-aligned symbols are received during the first timeslot, the firsttime-aligned symbols with the first frequency band, and associate, whenthe second time-aligned symbols are received during the second timeslot,the second time-aligned symbols with the second frequency band.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein theinstructions further cause the processor to: forward the M2M data to afirst device; and forward the UE data to a second device that differsfrom the first device.